Four fair housing organizations sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Government Efficiency on Thursday, faced with the sudden rescission of approximately 30 million in critical grant dollars.
The organizations — in Massachusetts, Idaho, Texas and Ohio — were among 66 housing rights nonprofits across the country that received a letter in late February informing them that key funding used to help individuals fight eviction and seek redress for discrimination had been cut off. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of a proposed class of the groups.
According to the lawsuit filed in Massachusetts district court, HUD and DOGE, operating at the direction of President Trump, made an “egregious overstep” when they canceled dozens of grants connected to the Fair Housing Initiatives Program. The program and the grants distributed to state and city organizations are used to enforce the federal Fair Housing Act that prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, ethnicity, religion and other factors, like gender identity and disability.
Most fair housing complaints in the United States are handled by local housing organizations: In 2022, these groups received more than 33,000 complaints.
Local fair housing organizations generally have annual budgets of less than $1 million, and the grants account for a significant portion of their revenues. The groups say they had no warning that the funding would end abruptly. “The impact of these dollars is concrete and profound,” the complaint reads.
